Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion When does it cross the line into materialism?

Materialism in the sense of "lots and lots of STUFF" is counter to our family's values as committed environmentalists and people who are concerned about where "stuff" comes from and what is done to the humans who produce it. Haven't seen this mentioned, but it is something we talk about a lot with our kids.

If I had money to throw around it would go to art (visual art or attending performances), or to services like massages, etc. I actually ask for most of my gifts to be art now, anyway. (Etsy makes this affordable for anyone.)

My kids are really not materialists. It doesn't seem to be in their makeup at this point. Not sure if this is nature or nurture. I will say that they don't see any commercial TV and their friends are from all over the economic spectrum, but mostly not rich. The one thing DD has sometimes expressed is a wish for a larger, "cooler" house, with a pool.

She has one classmate who is wealthy and uses this wealth to impress the other kids, including DD, whom he seems to have a crush on. DD is both mytified and unimpressed by this ("Why does he think I care about what kind of laptop he has?") I find it sad, to be honest.

Oh, and DD9 has no electronic devices other than a waterproof, shockproof digital camera, which was a much-requested gift last year and a worthwhile investment for a visually oriented child. We do have an (old) family Wii. She was begging and begging me for an ereader last year till I finally asked her why she was so interested. It turned out that she thought you could get ANY BOOK IN THE WORLD FOR FREE AND ON DEMAND, FOREVER with an ereader. No wonder she thought I was a jerk for saying no! (I have an ereader, too, so she kept saying, "But YOU have one!! It's not FAIR!") When I explained that it didn't work that way, she was like, "Oh. Never mind."

Well, my Nook (with overdrive installed) does sort of work that way, though-- I can check out ANY available book from my state's digital collection anywhere that I have WiFi. It's pretty sweet, I must say.



UM also mentions something that I've noticed in DD-- she simply isn't much a material girl.

I mean, sure-- she expressed a desire to have a flat in London... and a house in the Marina district... but only for the access that those things provide to places and activities that she LOVES... for non-materialistic reasons.

We are not materialistic, either, though-- we like to be comfortable, however.

My DH hates to feel that others are looking "down" at him, and is susceptible to one-upsmanship in a way that DD and I do not seem to be.

OOooooo-- LOOK at my new ______!! It's shiny and big and VERY expensive/exclusive/rare/special/you-don't-have-one-of-THESE-do-you?

DD or I, generally; "Oh wow-- I'm thrilled for you! How exciting! Tell me all about it!"

{shrug}

I'm kind of thinking that "envy" really isn't part of her makeup or mine on some fundamental level. It's not lack of exposure to commercialism, either... We find marketing to be fairly ham-handed and amusing in its intent to convince people to buy-buy-buy things that nobody actually needs. We've trained her to be a VERY skeptical consumer of mass media content, in general.

Compare how many people it would employ to build 3 $15M houses versus 225 $200k houses, or 450 $100k houses.

C'mon, Dude -- does anyone really need a $100K house?

Besides, what's my son gonna do with 450 homes? Doesn't seem fair that he should be able to own all those homes, while others can't afford so much as a water-tight tent.

Huh--really? I can't do that on mine! (I also have a Nook with Overdrive.) At least, I don't think so. Just the ones fromk my local library system, and the books I want are often out. And the damn books are always dematerializing on me when they get due. Yes, even in airplane mode. There's nothing worse than having your book vanish before your eyes. (Okay, yes, there is. First-world problem.)

(Probably my backwards state.)

An important reminder. We've been without commercials/cable for years now and that helps. Ds doesn't have a lot of stuff either though his bookshelves are full.
He has everything he needs and then some and we're grateful.

It is important to make responsible decisions like the ones you and your family make. I'd like to do more of that in our family.

Thank you for posting this. There is a website and it offers an excerpt to read. (link- http://madelinelevine.com/the-price-of-privilege/)

I also looked it up on amazon and found 80 reviews, 55 of which were 5 stars (the highest possible rating). One review shared that for purposes of this book, affluent was defined as $120K.

Being frugal I put the book on hold at a local library.

UBB threads really needs a +1/thumbs up function.